Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

226 The Life of Muhammad
he stumoled and threw me. I thought this was somewhat unusual so
I resorted to the divining arrows again and out came the detestaple "Do
him no harm." But I refused to be put off and rode on in pursuit. Again
my horse stumbled and threw me, and again I tried the arrows with the
same result. I I rode on, and at last as I saw the little band my horse
stumbled with me and its forelegs went into the ground and I fell. Then
as it gOt its legs out of the ground smoke arose like a sandstorm. When
33Z I saw that I knew that he was protected against me and would have the
upper hand. I called to them saying who I was and asking them to wait
for me' and that they need have no concern, for no harm would come to
them f;om me. The apostle told Abu Bakr to ask what I wanted and I said,
"Write a document for me which will be a sign between you and me"
and the apostle instructed Abu Bakr to do so.
'He wrote it on a bone, or a piece of paper, or a potsherd and threw it to
me and I put it in my quiver and went back. I kept quiet about the whole
affair until when the apostle conquered Mecca and finished with al-Ta'ifand
I:Iunayn I went out to give him the document and I met him in al-Ji'rana. Z
'I got among a squadron of the An~ar cavalry and they began to beat
me with their spears, saying, "Be offwith you; what on earth do you want?"
However, I got near to the apostle as he sat on his camel and his shank
in his stirrup looked to me like the trunk of a palm-tree. I lifted my hand
with the document, saying what it was and what my name was. He said"It
is a day of repaying and goodness. Let him come near." So I approached
him and accepted Islam. Then I remembered something that I wanted
to ask him. All I can remember now is that I said "Stray camels used to
come to my cistern which I kept full for my own camels. Shall I get a
reward for having let them have water?1J "Yes," he said, "for watering
every thirsty creature there is a reward." Then I returned to my people
and brought my alms to the apostle' (274).
Their guide, 'Abdullah b. Arqal, took them below Mecca; then along
333 the shore until he crossed the road below 'Usfan; then below Amaj; then
after passing Qudayd by way of al-Kharrar and Thaniyyatu'l-Marra to
.Liqf (275).
He took tbem past the waterhole of Liqf, then down to Madlajatu
Ma!)aj (276), then past.Marji\1 Ma!)iij, then down to Marji\1 of.Dhii'l­
Ghadwayn (z77), then the valley of Dhn Kashr; then by al-Jadajid, then
al-Ajrad, then Dhn Salam of the valley of A'da', the waterhole of Ta'hin,
then by al-'Ababid (278), then by way of al-Fiijja (279)' Then he took
them down to al-'Arj; and one of their mounts having dropped behind,
a man of Aslam, Aus b. I:Iujr by name, took the prophet to Medina on his
camel which was called Ibn al-Rida', sending with him a ,ervant called
I This story is cast in the familiar form of the story-teller: the same words are repeated
again and again until the climax is reached. In the translation given above the sense is given
-not the repetitions.
:I A place near Mecca on the road to al-Ta"if.
"
The Life of Muhammad 227
.M~S'iid b., Hunayda. From 'Arj the guide took them to Thaniyyatu'l­
A Ir~280) to the rIght of Rakiiba until he brought them down to the valley
of RI m; thence to Quba' to B. 'Amr b. 'Auf on Monday 12th Rabi'u'lawwal
at high noon.'
Muhammad b. Ja'far b. al-Zubayr from 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr from
'Abdu'I-Ra\1man b. 'Uwaymir b. Sa'ida told me, saying, 'Men of my tribe
who were the apostle's companions told me, "When we heard that the
apostle had left Mecca and we were eagerly expecting his arrival we used 334
t~ go out after morning prayers to our lava tract beyond our land to await
hIm. This we did until there was no more shade left and then we went
indoors in the hot season. On the day that the apostle arrived we had sat
as we always had until there being no more shade we went indoors and
then the apostle arrived. The first to see him was a Jew. He had seen what
we were in the habit of doing and that we were expecting the arrival of
the apostle and ?e called out at the top of his voice '0 Banu Qayla your
luck has come! So we went out to greet the apostle who was in the
shadow of a palm-tree with Abu Bakr who was of like age. Now most
of us had never see,n the apostle and as the people crowded round him
they did not know him from Abu Bakr until the shade left him and Abu
Bakr got up with his mantle and shielded him from the sun and then we
knew." , ,
The apostle, so they say, stayed with Kulthum b, Hidm brother of the
B. 'Amr b. 'Auf, one of the B. 'Ubayd. Others say he stayed with Sa'd
b. Khaythama. Those who assert the former say that it was only because he
left Kulthum to go and sit with the men in Sa'd's house (for he was a
?~chel.or and housed the apostle's companions who were bachelors) 'that
It IS sald that he stayed with Sa'd, for his house used to be called the house
of the hachelors. But God knows the truth of the matter.
Abu .~akr stayed with Khubayb b. IsH, one of the B. al-I:Iarith b. al­
KhazraJ In al-Sun\1. Some say it was with Kharija b. Zayd b. Abu Zuhayr
brother of the B. al-I:Iarith.
'
'Ali stayed in Mecca for three days and nights until he had restored the
deposits whic~ the apostle held. This done he joined the apostle and 335
lodged WIth hIm at Kulthum's house. He stayed in Qubii' only a night or
two. He used to say that in Quba' there was an unmarried Muslim woman
and he noticed that a man used to come to her in the middle of the night
and knock on her door; she would come out and he would give her some~
thmg. He felt very suspicious of him and asked hel what was the meaning
of thiS lllghtly performance as she was a Muslim woman without a husband
She told him that the man was Sahl b. l:Iunayf b. Wahib who knew tha;
she was all alone and he used to break up the idols of his tribe at I1-ight and
•
n. I Yet a third possibility is al·Ghiibir, T. 1237, following 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr. Cf Yii
111. 596 and I.H.'s note. . q.
z T.h~s paragraI?h Occurs under the heading'Ibn Hisham said'. But clearly it belongs to
the ongmal narrative, one of I.H.'s characteristic interpolations occurring in the middle of it.